


The Bat Boys

by cryinguncontrolably



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Justice League - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 02:08:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19263820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cryinguncontrolably/pseuds/cryinguncontrolably
Summary: Batfamily-Centric Oneshots, also includes other DC Characters





	The Bat Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Annual Wayne Gala is here and The Joker wants to mess it all up. Batman lets the team come into Gotham for a little assistance since the BatClan will ne a little... preoccupied.

Dick- 23

Barbara- 23

Jason- 20

Cass- 18

Steph- 17

Tim- 17

Damien- 11

* * *

  **The Cave**

It was time for the annual Wayne Fundraiser Gala. No one quite knew what it was for, all they knew was that it was a huge gathering of rich people and that said rich people donated a LOT of money towards whatever charity the Waynes were supporting that year.

Now what the annual Wayne Gala meant for the Batfamily was a very real, very serious threat from the Joker, usually it was some sort of bomb paired with an ultimatum. Whether he was in Arkham or not, the Joker always seemed to find a way to mess up their party. Which is why, today, Batman had gathered the Young Justice team together for a very special mission.

Batman's deep monotone voice cut cleanly through the team's chatter. "Team."

All noise in the room ceased. The team's attention turned to the Batfamily standing before them. Nightwing and Batgirl stood to his left with a small child the team didn't know, and RedHood (surprisingly) and Robin stood to his right.

When all talking had ceased, Batman began the mission briefing. "As you all are aware, the Annual Wayne Gala is approaching. Now, the Team has been formerly invited to Gotham for a very important, very  _covert_ mission."

"I thought there were no supers allowed in Gotham," Impulse yelled smugly.

Batman glared at the young speedster causing him to shrink back a little, "This is a _very_ special occasion, as you can see we have brought certain members out of retirement for it." He looked to Artemis and Wally. "The Joker has threatened the Annual Wayne Gala, as he does every year, and you will be providing security. The Justice League usually does this, but they have other business to attend to."

Superboy crossed his arms, "Why don't you guys do it?"

Batman scowled slightly, " _We_ will be patrolling Gotham and looking for the Joker." He looked around, making sure there were no more questions, "Now, you will be split up into groups. Kid Flash, Wondergirl, Aqualad, Miss Martian, Bumblebee, and Artemis will all be posing as security and is team Alpha. The rest of the team will be positioned throughout the building you guys are Beta. Now Red Arrow and Superboy, you two are gamma and you have a very specific job." Batman pulled up a picture of the Wayne family, "You two will be providing security to the Waynes. They are our top priority and are very likely our targets. This is Bruce Wayne, Richard Grayson, Jason Todd, Timothy Drake, and Damien Wayne. The others attending are Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, and Stephanie Brown."

Superboy rolled his eyes, "Great, spending my time watching a bunch of spoiled rich kids."

Batman continued on, ignoring the kryptonian, "You have all been given special clearance to zeta to the Batcave tomorrow night at 6 pm sharp. Do NOT be late."

* * *

**Batcave**

The team arrived at the Batcave at 6:02 pm. It was more incredible than any of them had imagined. The whole place was huge, and surprisingly was very literally, in every sense of the word, a cave. It was a very nice cave, but a cave nonetheless. In reality, the team hadn't believed Robin when he said that the Batcave was unlike anything they'd seen before, but looking at it with their own eyes, "unlike anything they'd ever seen" was an understatement.

To their right was a massive computer with one big screen in the center and two slightly smaller screens on either side and in the middle of them was a massively comfortable chair that looked like the cahir equivalent of heaven. To their left was the one and only Batmobile. It sat on a circular stage that had a road which led into a wall, which the team assumed was an exit that led out into the city. The Batmobile was a sleek, all black, two door car that sat fairly low to the ground, but by far the most incredible feature was the bumper sticker that said "BAT-DAD" in big yellow letters.

"Wow..." Beastboy spun around slowly, taking in the scenery. "Guys, we're in the _Batcave._ " He ran up to the end of the stage. "Guys..." he breathed, "this is the  _batmobile._ "

"Take it all in, hermano, " Beetle said standing next to Beast Boy and looking around, "This will never happen again."

At that, Impulse took off speeding around the Batcave, "Wowwwww." He buzzed around everywhere, something that most definitely would have pissed off Batman if he were there.

"Look it's the Bat-puter!"  
"LOok! It's the batmobile!"  
"LOOK it's the  _BATSUIT!_ "  
"Look it's the  _original_ Robin suit!"  
"Wow, Nightwing used to wear pixie boots?"  
"And booty shorts?"  
"LOOK the Batwing!"  
"AND THE--"

Unfortunately for Bart, he was so enamored with the Batcave he wasn't looking where he was going, well, running, and super-sped headfirst into the one and only Dark Knight himself. THE BATMAN. Impulse grunted as he slammed into Batman as if he were a brick wall.

"You're late," growled Batman, causing Impulse to speed away and rejoin the now terrified team.

"Where the hell did he come from?" Beast Boy whispered to Beetle who just shrugged nervously.

Nightwing laughed as he flipped into view, "Lay off B. They're not even 5 minutes late. Hey team! We've already set up all your disguises for you, so this should be a breeze! Wally, Kaldur, Roy, and Conner, your suits are hanging up over there," He pointed to a clothes rack. "M'gann, Wonder Girl, Bumblebee, Artemis, I've gotten you all high quality gala dresses that can also work in combat. The rest of you will be wearing your suits in stealth mode."

Bumblebee felt the dress fabrics, "Nice touch, 'Wing. Breathable  _AND_ stylish? That's just incredible."

"But wait!" Nightwing blurted out excitedly, "There's more! Not only did I have all the apparel specially fitted just for you guys, I _also_ took the liberty of having a seamstress install.... drumroll please," Nightwing held up one of the dresses for all to see, "POCKETS!"

M'gaan, Bumblebee, Wonder Girl, and Artemis all screamed in joy and ran forward to give their leader a hug.

Batgirl rolled her eyes at the man's unnecessary dramatic episode, "Wing was waaayyy too excited to go do all of this for you guys."

Nightwing shoved her playfully, "C'mon, you know you love my extra side!" Batgirl just crossed her arms, causing Nightwing to chuckle, "Anyways, guys! Suit up, we've got a mission to accomplish!"

Within the blink of an eye, the two Bats miraculously disappeared. 

Wally crossed his arms, "I've never figured out how the hell they do that..."

"Oh Baywatch," Artemis sighed, "I don't think we'll ever know."

* * *

**Wayne Manor**

Dick quickly threw on his black suitcoat over his blue button down, "Dami! Hurry Up! We gotta meet Bruce at the gala at 7 sharp!"

The 10 year old wandered into Dick's room, struggling with his tie and looking grumpy, "Tsk. I fail to understand the importance of this event."

Dick ruffled the little boys hair, "You don't have to understand it, Dami. You just have to sit there, be friendly and look cute."

"I refuse to be _'friendly'_ with those rich, spoiled, upperclassmen--"

"Hey," Dick said slightly firmer, "Don't forget that you  _are_ one of those rich, spoiled upperclassmen."

"Tsk. Perhaps, but at least I have a sense of how the real world works, unlike these morons with their heads up their ass--"

"Damiiiiii.." Dick looked at him warningly.

Damian rolled his eyes, "Fine, I'll be 'cute' and 'friendly'."

Dick smiled and fixed his little brother's bow tie for him, "Good. Now go make sure Jason's ready, we have to leave in 10 minutes."

"TODDDDDDDDDDDD, GET YOUR HEAD OUT YOUR ASS WE HAVE TO LEAVE."

A string of curses was heard from the other room, "yeah yeah yeah." Jason emerged in his black suit and crimson button down. "Let's get this shit done with," he grumbled, fixing his coat sleeves. "Where's the replacement?"

Tim drudged out of his room wearing a suave white tux with a black bowtie. "Let's roll..." he grumbled apathetically.

Barbara, Steph and Cass were all waiting at the bottom of the stairs along with Roy and Connor who were both wearing black suits, dark sunglasses, and fake earpieces.

Barbara wore a blue off the shoulder mermaid dress with a long slit up the side. She had a set of pearls around her neck along with a pair of pearl earrings that Dick had given her for her birthday two years ago.

Steph had chosen a matte pink low cut, backless, v neck dress and she paired it with rose gold hoops and heels.

And Cassandra chose to go with a classic red backless dress and tan heels as well as big silver hoops and a silver necklace.

The Bat clan slid effortlessly into the limo accompanied by Roy and Connor. "To the Gala!!" Dick exclaimed dramatically, causing the others to roll their eyes.

* * *

The Limo pulled up to the Gala at exactly 7:03 pm. The Wayne's could see the camera flashes from inside the tainted windows of the limo. They all sat inside for a moment, composing themselves. Well, all of them except Dick Grayson. Richard John Grayson absolutely adored the paparazzi in all shape or form.

Dick turned to his brothers with a boyish grin and shrugged, "Gotta face 'em sometime." He gave them a wink and grabbed Barbara's hand, forcibly dragging her out into the enthusiastic crowd with him.

Immediately, there were cameras and microphones shoved in his face, and screaming fangirls on the side. Roy followed close behind the two trying to ward off as many people as possible.

"Mr Grayson are the rumors about you and-"  
"Richard!" "Richard!"  
"Mr Grayson, how do you feel about being the sole heir to Wayne enterpri-"  
"How do you feel about-"  
"Mr Grayson!" "Most eligiable bachelor-"  
"Mr Grayson! Over here!"  
"Mr Grayson I see that Ms Gordon is accompanying you ton-"  
"DICK!"  
"Is your new line of-"  
"Mr Grayson, about your work in Blüdhave-"  
"Mr Grayson-"  
"Dick! Dick!"  
"Mr Grayson how do you feel about-"

Dick flashed the reporters and fangirls his classic dazzling grin that made  _everyone_ weak at the knees, and Barbara repressed the urge to roll her eyes. The pair heard the car door shut behind them, which meant that Connor and the rest of the Wayne Family had seized the opportunity to enter Wayne Enterprises while their brother took the brunt of the attention.

"JASON TODD!"  
"MR. DRAKE ARE YOU-"  
" OVER HERE!"

The main reporter, Katie Michaels stuck her mic in Dick's face, "Mr. Grayson you are accompanied my Miss Gordon this evening, is this a statement of your relationship status? Are you giving up the mantle of 'the most eligible bachelor of Gotham City'?"

Dick Grayson gave the reporter his signature chuckle and looked down briefly, flashing his blue eyes at both the reporter and the camera when he looked up. "Ahahaha. Well Katie, as beautiful and stunning as Miss Gordon looks tonight, I'm afraid we're only here as friends. I assure you Katie, I am still _very_ much single." A cheer was heard from the fangirls behind them, causing Dick to chuckle again. Roy tapped Dick's shoulder, telling him to get a move on, "Well, if you don't mind, I really need to get up to this Gala." He winked at Katie, "Catch ya later."

The reporter looked like she could faint, and Barbara couldn't help but smirk at her as she and Dick walked into Wayne Enterprises, Roy close on their heels.

:)

Dick and Barbara arrived upstairs to meet the rest of the Wayne Family. Bruce was busy talking *ahem- flirting* with Selina Kyle. Jason, Cass, Steph and Tim looked stuck speaking to Henry Granten the millionaire, and Damien was getting his cheeks squeezed by Ms. Lewison, the widow.

The arrival of Richard Grayson and Barbara Gordon made most of the Wayne siblings sigh with relief. The golden boy had arrived. Bruce looked up and smiled his playboy smile. He politely excused himself from Selina and went to go greet his eldest son.

Dick, however, already knew what Bruce was about to say. "Family picture?" he asked.

Bruce nodded, "Family picture."

Jason, Tim and Steph seemed to catch on pretty quickly as the photographers began to gather. But Damien didn't seem to get the memo. In fact, nothing the Waynes did seemed to catch his attention. Whether it was waving or calling his name, the 10 year old stood by Ms Lewison, looking like he wanted to launch himself off a cliff.

Jason rolled his eyes and sauntered over to where Ms Lewison was fawning over the 10 year old boy and grabbed his suit collar, promptly dragging him over to where the rest of the Waynes were posing for a picture.

Jason looked pissed. Damien looked mortified. Dick was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. Bruce looked disapproving. Cass looked bored, Babs looked mildly amused, and Tim and Steph were snickering to themselves in the back while Roy and Connor watched stoically from a distance.

And of course, that was the photo the tabloid photographers took the most of. The formal family photos for the newspapers were taken soon after everything had calmed down, but everyone knew which photo would appear on the cover of all the trashy tabloids the next morning. Dick could almost see the headlines now.  _Wayne Family: Not So Picture Perfect_... or  _Wayne or Shame?_ something like that.

"I'll kill you for that Todd," Damien whispered in Jason's ears the second the photographers focused their attention elsewhere.

Jason snorted. "I'd like to see you try, _demon spawn_ ," he whispered amused, before fixing his tie and strolling over to talk to the rich daddy's girls. All of which loved Jason's 'Bad Boy' attitude and rough exterior.

:)

As the Wayne's entered the building, Miss Martian set up her psychic link.  _"Is everyone in position?"_

There was a chorus of  _"checks"_ as everyone got into position.

_"Now, we've been notified that the only heroes here that the Waynes are aware of are Connor and Roy. So Wally, Artemis, Cassie, Kaldur, Karen? We gotta try to blend in as well as possible so we don't blow our cover."_

_"ummmm,"_   Cassie interjected,  _"Why don't the Wayne's know we're here?"_

Aqualad did another sweep of the room, _"They know we're here, they just don't know who we are. It's for safety reasons."_

The team heard Roy's voice join in,  _"_ _Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon comin' in now."_

The team turned their attention to the doors as Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon emerged.

Bumblebee looked the grinning playboy up and down,  _"Dammmnn That boy is FINEEEE. Capital F-I-N-E."_

Artemis licked her lips and checked out Dick's ass, _"I mean... there's a reason he's Gotham's **most** eligible bachelor. Check out that ass, do the words 'sex on legs'  come to mind? I can't believe he's single."_

Wally cleared his throat, clearly irritated, but a little amused. He and Dick did go way back after all.  _"Are you done fawning over Dick Grayson yet? Can we continue with the mission, or do you need a minute more?"_

Artemis smirked a little, _"Jealous, Baywatch?"_

Wally mentally scoffed, _"Me? Jealous? Of Pretty Boy? Never._ _"_

_"So you admit you think he's pretty?"_ Artemis teased.  _"Should I be worried about Dick Grayson stealing my boyfriend?"_ She grinned, not knowing that Dick actually  **did** once have a crush on her redheaded speedster.

_"Oh shut up,"_   Wally grumbled. 

Artemis rolled her eyes, _"Relax, Baywatch. Your little crush on Dick Grayson could actually go somewhere, I hear he swings both ways."_ Wally sputtered incoherently for a minute before sulking and leaving to go socialize.

* * *

Two hours in and the night was going well so far with no threats from the Joker. But Dick knew better than to get his hopes up. For Dick, the worst part about these galas was that he was essentially useless. In fact all the Bats were under strict orders from Bruce to be the public figures everyone believed the Waynes to be, no heroism. Not that Dick minded being the famous playboy heart-throb, but he hated having to stand on the sidelines while all the exciting stuff happened.

Dick was ripped from his thoughts as Artemis strolled by. Grinning, the playboy ran up to the undercover superhero and grabbed her shoulder.  _"Time to play, get the superheros to blow their cover,"_ he thought evilly.  "Artemis!" He laughed internally at her panicked expression. "It's me! Dick!... Y'know, from Gotham Academy!"

Artemis visibly relaxed, realizing her cover wasn't blown, "Oh yeah!" She smiled sweetly as she 'remembered' him, "Long time no see!"

"What're you doing here?" He asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"Oh... Uh, Y'know," Dick cocked his head in confusion as Artemis tried to come up with a lie on the spot, "I was uh... I was invited, y'know.... as... an ex Wayne Foundation student!"

Dick nodded and was about to ask another awkward question when Wally West, grinning like an idiot, strolled up and put his arm around Artemis, who just looked mildly annoyed. "Hey, Babe. Heyy, Dickiee."

Dick smiled his famous playboy smile, and leaned back against the table, "Wallyyyy! What's up my mannnn?"

Artemis looked between the two, a little shocked,  "Umm do you two know each other?"

Dick was first to answer, "Oh yeah!" he said waving his hand dismissively, "Me and Wally go wayyyy back." Artemis's jaw dropped, but the two boys ignored her. Dick contorted his face, thinking, "I  _think_ I've known Wally since I wassss.... Nine?"

Wally nodded confirming that, "Yeah cuz I wass.... 12 or 13."

_"Maybe you DO have to worry about Dick Grayson stealing your man..."_ M'gann chuckled over the mind link, causing Wally to blush.

Artemis growled frustratedly causing Dick to look her way, "Problem, Artemis?"

Wally hit her with his elbow. "Yeah Babe," he looked at her hard, "Problem?" Artemis stared back at him about to yell at him for elbowing her.  _"Don't blow our cover!"_ he yelled over the mind link.

Artemis gave a faux smile, "Of course not, just clearing my throat."

The three of them looked up at the sound of microphone feedback to see Bruce Wayne standing at the stage. 

:)

"Good Evening ladies and gentlemen. If you could all stop what you're doing for a second a look up here, I'd like to introduce everyone to my oldest son!" Dick froze and paled slightly and the two undercover heroes could tell this was not planned. "Now I know that many of you have already met him," Bruce continued, "But seeing that he  _is_ the heir to Wayne Enterprises, I think I'd like to familiarize him with the job! Ladies and Gentleman please welcome, my son, Richard Grayson!" He held his hand out, Dick stared at his father in astonishment for a second before snapping out of it and moving towards Bruce.

As Dick walked up to take them mic Bruce gave him a big embrace, "I'm going to go scout the building. Im guessing Joker's threat is due soon and I want to get a head start. Keep the teams attention so I can slip out."

Dick watched as Bruce waved to the crowd and excused himself from the stage. Dick chuckled nervously, "Good evening," the mic squeaked causing everyone in the room to flinch a little, "Haha, Umm... sorry." he blushed with embarrassment as he saw Babs and Jason laughing at him in the back. He cleared his throat and began with a little more confidence, "As many of you know, my name is Richard Grayson and I am Bruce Wayne's oldest son." Dick saw Damian scoff, "So, uh, I guess I'll start off by asking how everyone's doing tonight?" there was a solid amount of applause and cheers. "Sounds good then," he chuckled nervously again.

"Anyways, tonight has just been... really great so far," Dick continued, "I've gotten to meet some new people as well as see many familiar faces. So a good mix of both. And some of these faces have actually been around for as long as I can remember. Y'know Bruce took me to my first Gala when I was maybe 11, and I just remember feeling so excited that I was going to such a fancy event that I basically dove headfirst into the limo when it pulled up," the crowd chuckled lightly, "And when I got here, honestly, I felt like I wanted to rip my hair out it was so boring." This earned Dick another laugh. "But!" He held up a finger, stopping the laughter, "The upside, was that I got to meet some of finest people in Gotham City, and I wouldn't take that back if you paid me!"

Dick watched Bruce slip out a side door before moving to talk of the Charity, "Now as I'm sure you're all aware, this year's charity money is going to St. Mary's Children's Hospital, and I'm proud to announce that, so far, we have raised almost $16,000 for the cause!" There was a round of applause. "BUT!" He paused, "I think we can do better than that! Now by the end of the Night, I'm hoping to raise that to $30,000! What do ya say? For the Children of Gotham!" there was another round of applause as Dick raised a champagne glass.

Dick was about to continue his speech when the speakers fritzed out. He looked behind them confused and tapped the microphone only to find it disconnected. The room went dead silent as a heavy blanket of anxiety settled over the crowd. Dick braced himself. This was it. Sure enough, there was a loud screech of feedback that slowly faded out into a cackle.

"LADIESSS AND GENTLEMEN!" An image of The Joker flickered onto the TV screen above the stage and Dick internally sighed, "WELCOME TO THE ANNUAL **JOKER** PORTION OF THE EVENINGG!!" Joker put his face in the camera as he continued, "Now, I know I usually work alone... but since _BAT-SY_ went and got some  _SE-CUR-ITY_ I thought 'well hey, I can hire some _friends_ too.' Anyways, I  _know_ It's a wee bit unusual, but! Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Mr.......(Drumrolllllllllll please!) RA'S AL GHUL!!!!" Dick paled as the Demon's Head himself stepped out the shadows and side-eyed the clown suspiciously. "Now," Joker droned on, "My frie-" There was a thunk and The Joker's eyes rolled back into his head as he was knocked unconscious.

Ra's looked down at the unconscious clown with disdain, "Imbecile." The Demon's Head stepped forward and looked into the Camera, "I'll get straight to the point. Bruce Wayne has something that belongs to me. I want him back. You have 10 minutes or my Assassins will kill everybody in this room and take him by force." A timer appeared on the TV and the gala descended into chaos.

Dick looked at Jason who quickly grabbed Damian. No one noticed the oldest Wayne brother give his siblings the hand signal to disappear, so in the blink of an eye, the Bats, and the Waynes, had disappeared.

:)

The team was in disarray, having whipped out their weapons and masks when the Joker first interrupted the Gala, they were now working on calming the crowd and scouting for assassins. However, the teams biggest issue seemed to be that all the Waynes had mysteriously disappeared instantaneously. Wally and Artemis were rounding up the guests, M'gaan was psychically scanning for assassins, and Roy was semi- freaking out,  _"Guys, does anyone have eyes on the Wayne siblings? I repeat WHERE ARE THE WAYNE SIBLINGS?"_

Connor scanned the room but was unable to locate any of them,  _"Batman is going to kill us."_

M'gaan morphed out of her dress and into her suit,  _"Roy and Connor, go look for the Waynes. Me, Artemis, Wally, Karen, Aqualad and Cassie will all take crowd control, everyone else keep an eye out for assassins."_

As the team scrambled to accommodate the new threat, It took less than a minute for the Bats to get changed, gear up, and for Dick to radio Batman "B, it's 'wing. Joker was just a front, the League of Assassins is here and they're after Damian."

Dick heard Batman swear on the other end of the line, "I'm guessing Talia will be here somewhere then?"

"That's probably safe to assume. B, they addressed Bruce specifically, so do you want me to hang onto Damian or should you?"

"Keep Damian in his civies and give him to Roy and Superboy, we can't risk compromising his identity. 'Wing, you're in charge, Batman out." The line went silent and Dick (now Nightwing) knew to maintain radio silence unless it was important.

"Alright Dami, you gotta stay in your civies. Ra's addressed Bruce as a civilian and we can't risk compromising your identity." Damian opened his mouth to protest but Nightwing cut him off, "Dami this is **NON NEGOTIABLE**."  

The Bat siblings minus Damian emerged in full gear, "Team."

The team turned to face their leader and sighed in relief. "Nightwing!" Roy jumped up, "We can't find the Wayne siblings anywhere."

"We have moved the Wayne siblings to a secure location. The only Wayne we haven't moved is Damian, since he is the one they are after, Damian will be under the protection of you and Superboy. You need to take him to a seperate secure location for his own protection." Damian scowled as Nightwing handed him over to the two "bodyguards".

In all honesty, Roy and Connor weren't really interested in babysitting Damian either. Roy, knowing the true identity of the Bats, had experienced run ins with Damian Wayne before and he was in no way excited to be his babysitter. The baby Bat brat was a pain in the ass for sure, but he was also one of his best friend's little brothers and under threat from the League of Assassins, so Roy decided to give him a pass for once. When Roy and Connor finally got Damian to go with them, Dick turned to the rest of the team.

"Now, I know you guys weren't expecting to fight the League of Assassins tonight, but I know you guys can handle this. Batgirl, Spoiler and 'Hood are taking Beta and going after Ra's, and me, Robin and Black Bat are going to stay here with Alpha and hold down the fort. Everyone clear?" There were a series of nods, "Good luck everyone."

* * *

**Secure Location**

It was safe to say that Red Arrow and Superboy were having some difficulties with the youngest Wayne, who seemed to have some sort of track record when it came to being difficult. In fact, Roy wouldn't be surprised if Damian's face showed up next to the dictionary definition of 'Demon'.

"Unhand me!" Damian snarled at the archer carrying him. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!" He flailed his arms around, smacking Red Arrow in the face, 

"Jesus, Supes." Roy lifted his chin out of Damian's reach, "This kid's got more problems than  _you_ did." Damian just glared up at him and spit in the archer's face.

Superboy crossed his arms and snorted as Roy struggled to drag a 10 year  _child_ into the safe room. "About ten times more problems," he shrugged. "But hey, you're the one who lost rock paper scissors." Amused, Superboy leaned up against the wall, "If you want I could help out... Y'know if you admit you can't handle a...  _little kid._ "

The two humans paused their fight to glare at the kryptonian. "Piss off, Superboy," Roy and Damian snapped in complete harmony before resuming their struggle.

"Cut it out, _brat._ " Roy huffed and threw him down onto the beanbag in Nightwings designated 'Secure Location'. "We're just trying to keep you  _safe_."

Damian just crossed his arms defensively and sneered up at the archer, " _You_ don't tell me what to do, and _I_ can take care of  _myself_."

Roy crouched down and looked Damian dead in the eyes. "Now listen here you little shit," he all but snarled, sticking a finger in the kids face. "I don't care _whose_ kid you are or how 'capable' you think you are. You are _ten years old_  and I AM AN ADULT. And as of right now you, a  _ten year old child_ , are  _MY_ responsibility."

"Says who?" Damian spat venomously.

"Says  _Nightwing,_ " Roy growled smugly through his clenched teeth. "So,  _do as I say **when** I say it,_" It was taking every ounce of self control he had in his body not to just shoot the arrogant little shit right in the face. Damian scrunched his face up in disdain at the Archer, but no more complaints came from his mouth. Begrudgingly, Damian sat on the beanie bag like a good child. 

"So Red," Superboy said dryly as Roy stalked back to where the kryptonian was standing. "Planning on having kids?"

* * *

**The Gala**

It took barely two seconds for Nightwing to leap into action, _"Orphan, KF, Aqualad, and WonderGirl, you guys stay here and protect the Gala attendees, Me, M'gaan, Robin, Bumblebee, and Artemis will be scouring the building for Ra's Ninjas. Now we shouldn't have to worry about Talia Al Ghul as Batman has her handled."_

Robin and Orphan snickered at the mention of Talia.  _"Right_ _,"_ chuckled Robin,  _"'handled'."_ Nightwing sent him a batglare causing him to look down shamefully.

_"Alright team, go."_

The gala guests and the team waited in anticipation as the timer on the TV slowly ticked down towards zero.

Two minutes left.

One Minute left.

Thirty seconds.

Fifteen.

Five. The numbers turned red.

Four. The team braced themselves.

Three. The guests held their breath.

Two. The team held onto their weapons a little tighter.

One. Inhale.

Zero. Times Up.

Almost immediately, Ra's Assassins crashed through the windows, surrounding gala guests. Their mission leader spoke, "This does not have to end like this. We want only the boy, give him to us and you all will live."

"Good God!" One of the gala attendees cried, "Just give them the boy!" There were a few timid grumbles of agreement from the others.

Kaldur glared at the woman, "We will not hand a  _child_ over to a  _madman_ so that you may continue on with your day. Damian Wayne will be given up over my dead body." 

The lead assassin narrowed his eyes and drew his weapons, "That can be arranged. This is your last chance, _give us Damian Wayne._ " 

"It's one person!" The guest yelled hysterically. "You can end all this now! Just give them the goddamn kid!"

Orphan scowled at the  _"If she doesn't shut up, I'm gonna hand **her** over to the assassins."_

Kaldur shifted his feet, _"The gala guests are merely frightened. They did not expect to be experiencing an attack from the League of Assassins."_

KF rolled his eyes,  _"Yeah yeah. Poor little rich people."_

"Suit yourself," The lead assassin snarled as he charged with the rest of his army in tow.

Orphan leapt forward to meet him, knocking his sword out of his hand with a kick to the wrist. Growling, the assassin launched himself at the Bat. Punch. Block. Flip. Kick. Throwing Knife. Dodge. Punch. Batarang. The assassin hissed as the batarang smacked into his foot, giving Orphan a chance to kick him into a table.

Kid Flash ran through the mob, tripping assassins and stealing katannas. He sped around an assassin smacking them multiple times before skidding to a halt, narrowly dodging a throwing knife. He turned to the hooded assassin, "Let's dance, dickhole."

The assassin drew their sword in response and charged at the speedster who simply ducked under the sword and laughed, "C'mon," he taunted, blocking another slash of the sword, "You gotta be faster than that to catch the one and only _KID FLASH._ "

The assassin immediately dropped into a crouch, sticking their leg out as they spun around. It was a move that Nightwing used quite often, yet Wally still felt his legs buckle beneath him causing the speedster to trip and fall backwards on his ass. "Okay yeah," he mumbled sheepishly, getting back up quickly, "You're pretty fast." Rolling his shoulders back once, KF charged, this time getting close enough to render the assassin's sword useless. He used his super speed to get in three quick punches before he was flipped flat on his back. The assassin brought their sword down on his head, but the speedster managed to spin out of the way at the last second. 

"Too slow!" he laughed ducking the assassins sword. "You know, this is totally unfair," Kid Flash said dodging another slash, "you have a sword." He sped out of the way. "And I don't." The assassin sliced again hitting him on the bicep and cutting through his suit.

"Whoo!" KF backed up and held his hurt arm, "That's gonna hurt in the morning." He got ready to charge again, but this time before he could do anything, the assassin was knocked backwards and slammed against the wall by one of Kaldur's water bearers. 

Wally looked up as Kaldur slammed another assassin into the wall, _"I had it handled you know."_

_"I am sure you did."_ Kaldur said narrowly ducking under a flying kick aimed at his face. 

_"I was about to win,"_ KF said knocking over another assassin.

_"Of course you were,"_ Kaldur said launching an assassin towards Wonder Girl who punched him back into the ground.

An assassin jumped up and grabbed Wonder Girl who flipped them over her back, slamming them on the floor.  _"Yeah Yeah, Kid Flash is very good at fighting ninja assassins, now can we get back to fighting the **ninja assassins**?!"_

_"This place is overrun,"_  Orphan launched herself off Aqualad's back and kicked one of the assassins in the face,  _"Nightwing, how are things going on your side?"_

:)

Nightwing, Robin, Bumblebee, Artemis, and M'gaan had split up to cover the building. The halls were empty at first, but sure enough, when the clock hit zero there were assassins flooding in from nowhere. It was mostly just scouts looking for where they were keeping Damian, but Nightwing didn't want to risk any running free.

It wasn't hard to take them out. Nightwing would probably classify them as more of a pain in the ass than a threat. So far, their mission was mostly just: see assassin, fight assassin, take assassin out, tie assassin up. Honestly the most annoying thing was listening to everyone over the mindlink. It was really distracting hearing everyone's voice while trying to fight assassins.

_"This place is overrun. Nightwing, how are things going on your side?"_  Orphan said from the other side. Finally, something relevant.

_"We've taken out most of the scouts,"_ Nightwing said checking around the next corner,  _"Do you need backup?"_

_"Nah Dude, I think we're doing fine."_ Wally said sarcastically, suddenly grunting as he got smacked in the face. 

_"Not the time, West,"_ snapped Wondergirl,  _"Yes 'Wing. We need backup. It seems like Ra's brought the entire League of Assassins with him to Gotham."_

_"Robin, Artemis and I are coming to help. Bee and Miss Martian, can you stick around and make sure there aren't any more scouts around here?"_

There were noises of approval and Nightwing took off towards the main room, hoping that Hood and Batgirl were doing just fine.

* * *

**Red Hood, Spoiler and Batgirl**

Red Hood and Spoiler led half of Beta for a full frontal assault against where they thought Ra's Al Ghul was hiding out, while Batgirl led the other half around back for a sneak attack. While Arsenal was more than okay with being in Red Hood's group, the rest nearly fought to be with Batgirl. In the end, Arsenal, La'gaan and Blue Beetle ended up with 'Hood and Spoiler, and Beast Boy, Impulse, and Rocket went with Batgirl. 

"Alright listen up you little shits," Red Hood looked at his brothers "team" with irritation. "Ra's Al Ghul is the real deal here. He may look like a crotchety old man, but he is  _not_ to be underestimated. He is a master swordsman, incredibly skilled in hand to hand combat, and is a genius when it comes to manipulation. That's why you're gonna leave him to either me, Spoiler, or Batgirl. Now, I have no doubt that he took over Joker's goons and added them to his army of assassins, so be ready to fight both. We're on our own. Batman isn't coming to save us tonight. It's just us. No fuck ups. No second chances."

Spoiler cracked her back as she stretched, "Jesus 'Hood, go easy on them, would ya?"

Red Hood scoffed as he loaded his guns, "I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for them. They're not babies." He turned back to the team, "Look, we are going full frontal assault."

"That's my favorite type of assault," Arsenal grinned.

"Mine too," 'Hood matched the grin underneath his mask. "No holding out on me, guys. Do as much damage as you can."

"BUT!" Spoiler interrupted, holding her finger up, "No killing."

"Batsy's rule, not mine," 'Hood said holstering his guns and shrugging. 

Jaime looked nervously at La'gaan and Arsenal, neither of which seemed fazed by this violent antihero. "Está loco..." he whispered to himself and the scarab, who chirped in agreement.

Spoiler threw Red Hood a glare before turning back to the team, "'Hood thinks the rules don't apply to him."

"They don't," he interjected in a sing songy voice, suddenly polishing an unusually large knife.

Spoiler just glared harder, making Red Hood raise his hands in sarcastic submission. She turned back to the three team members, "No killing tonight. No killing at _all_. Capiché?" She looked pointedly at Red Hood.

"Capoosh," Red Hood said absentmindedly twirling his knife.

"Alright then," Spoiler smiled, "Let's go kick some ass."

:)

Batgirl sat the team down in the back, "Alright guys, our primary goal is  _stealth_. We want to get in completely unnoticed. We are a sneak attack. That means: Impulse- no running ahead, Beast Boy- try to be as quiet as possible, small quiet animals only, and Rocket- just be careful. But most importantly, you stick by me at all times. This is a serious mission with serious dangers." The three team members nodded furiously. "Good."

"I am sooo glad we're not with Red Hood," Beast boy whispered to Impulse who nodded furiously.

"And I thought _Batman_ was scary," Impulse muttered, nervously tapping his feet.

"We listen for the signal, then infiltrate."

They sat in agonizing silence for exactly one minute.

Beast Boy jumped as there was a loud crash from inside the building paired with gunshots (both Hood's and the goon's) and loud yells of both anger and terror. There was a pause in gunfire as the team heard another loud crash and the sound of screeching metal.

Batgirl looked behind her at her team, "That's the signal. Move out."

:)

The sound of shattering glass filled the warehouse as Hood crashed through the window guns blazing. Non-lethal shots of course (he  _did_ promise Spoiler no killing). Arsenal followed suit not seconds later, crashing through the window across from Hood and using his bionic arm to take out the first wave of gunmen.

Blue Beetle broke the door down using his sonic cannon while the goons were still recovering from Hood and Arsenal's initial assault and flew in with Lagoon Boy and Spoiler not far behind him. The goons immediately opened fire on the new targets, forcing them to take cover behind some boxes.

Spoiler quickly found an opening and leapt into the fight, leaving La'gaan and Jaime behind. The two boys exchanged looks, before vaulting over the boxes and joining the fray. Jaime felt the thud of bullets against his suit as he flew above everyone, using his sonic cannon to keep the gunmen at bay.

"Jaime," Blue heard his scarab in his ear, as he ducked under one of Hood's stray bullets, "The 'Red Hood's' so called plan of attack is illogical and reckless. He is trying to get us killed. Offensive action against this 'Red Hood' is recommended."

"No," Blue whispered back urgently, "We're the distraction, this is _supposed_ to be risky. Red Hood is NOT a threat."

"Taking offensive action," the scarab chirped, ignoring Jaime's words and transforming Blue's sonic cannon into a plasma cannon. Jaime felt himself yanked into a hailstorm of bullets as the scarab aimed at the second oldest Bat sibling.

"NO!" Jaime screamed loudly and grabbed his arm, trying to shove it back to no avail. 

At Jaime's scream Red Hood turned to look at the kid thrashing around in the air like some sort of dying possessed cat. "What the hell are you doing Beetle?" The scarab beeped, locking onto Hood's position and shot the plasma cannon. Hood's eyes comically widened as he dove out of the way at the last second. "Hey Reyes! WHAT THE **_FUCK_**?"

"AH, I'm sorry!" Jaime said finally wrestling the cannon down, "I can't control it!"

"Well," Hood growled, elbowing another gunman in the face, "Get control!" 

Jaime was thrown sideways as the scarab shot another plasma blast at the Bat, who dodged a bit more gracefully this time. "It uh.. It doesn't really work like that," he stuttered, finally pushing the plasma cannon away. "It, It uhhhh.. Kinda does what it wants..."

Red Hood turned to Blue Beetle and let out a low, angry growl causing Jaime to flinch. No one likes an angry Bat. Before Blue could even blink the irritated anti hero had launched himself at the boy. "Spoiler cover me!" The scarab quickly turned Jaime's arm into a staple gun, but the Batman protegé was too fast. 

Blue felt himself drop a solid five feet as the large Bat unexpectedly grabbed him in mid-air. Blue Beetle lowered his mask, as the scarab started bucking, trying to dislodge the older man, "Hey ése!!" What're you doing??? Get off me!" The anti hero said nothing as he climbed up the thrashing teenager's armour. "Get off!" Beetle felt Hoods arm wrap around his neck, but when tried swatting the man away all that resulted was a tighter grip around his neck. "Estas loco! Let me go!"

"Goddamn it! Hold still!" Jaime felt a sharp prick in his neck as Jason injected him with a tranquilizer, and the teenager fell from the air. The last thing Jaime heard was someone yell Red Hood's name, and everything went black. 

Hood dropped down to the ground with the teenager in his arms, rolling to break their fall. Cracking his neck, Jason gently laid the boy on the ground, away from all the chaos. 

"What the _hell_ , Hood??" Spoiler barked as she tied up the last of the goons.

"How am  _I_ the bad guy here?" Hood yelled incredulously, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "What was I supposed to do?! _He_ was attacking  _me_!!!"

Spoiler crossed her arms. "Did you really have to use the Bat-Tranq?! You _know_ that stuff takes forever to wear off!"

"Look," Hood rolled his eyes behind his mask, "Based on the sheer power of that thing on his back, the kid will be fine."

"Emphasis on  _kid,_ Hood. He's, what? 17 at most?"

" _All_ of us have been injected with that tranq  _way_ before 17," Jason leaned down to take Jaime's pulse. "See? He's gonna be fine. Let's get on with the mission." La'gaan and Arsenal exchanged hesitant looks, but said nothing. Don't mess with a bat on a mission. It was unspoken rule number 1. "BG what's your 20?" Jason asked into his watch as if he hadn't just taken out one of his own team members.

"We've got a problem, 'Hood." Red Hood threw his head back in annoyance at her words. "It looks like Ra's been gone for hours."

"God damn it..." Hood marched over to the tied up gunmen. "Line up the gunmen.  _NOW,_ " he growled to the rest of his squad.

* * *

**The Gala**

Backup had taken less than two minutes to arrive. The doors slammed open revealing a very angry bat, a pissed archer, and one overprotective team leader. With the help of the three heros, the assassins were quickly neutralized, leaving only the leader.

The team started to flank him, but Nightwing held his arm out. "Wait," he barked harshly, "He's mine." 

The team stepped back nervously, having barely seen this side of their leader. The two master combatants circled each other briefly before lunging at their opponent seemingly simultaneously. The team stood there in awe as they watched the two men twist and dance around the room, neither truly having the upper hand. After awhile, they separated. Both panting. As quick as the assassin could draw his sai, Nightwing had his escrima sticks in hand, and the two pounced at their opponent once more.

A few minutes had passed, before Nightwing finally gained the upper hand.   

There was a loud thwack as Nightwing slammed a (very fancy) chair into the lead assassin, breaking it over his head and nearly knocking him out instantly. Growling Nightwing crouched down and pulled the assassin's head up by his hair, whispering in his ear, "You mess with _my_ team,  _my_ little brother, my  _family._ And you think I'm just gonna sit back and let it happen? Think again, asshole." He threw the assassin's head down and stood up, looking at his gaping team.

"What?" he asked innocently, clasping his hands together. Note to self- don't mess with Nightwing... or his family.

Wally skidded up next to his best friend and surveyed his work. _"Wow 'Wing,"_ He joked over the mind link, elbowing the eldest Batkid. _"Overkill much?"_

The man just looked over all the bodies with an apathetic expression and gave a half-hearted shrug. He then turned his attention to the gala goers who had pressed themselves against the far wall, "Everyone alright?" There was a sequence of short, stiff nods from the stunned upper class of Gotham. "Good," 'Wing smiled cheerfully. "You can all go home now."

At his words, the guests quickly stood up and ran from the room, still a little bit in shock from the assault. Although, in all fairness, expecting a bomb threat from Joker and getting a full on attack from the League of Assassins was a pretty good reason to be in shock. Just ask anyone.

After a short moment of silence, everyone was knocked out of their post-battle daze by a snicker.

_"Hey 'Wing,_ _"_ Wally looked at the acrobat with a shit eating grin plastered across his face.

Nightwing looked at his best friend nervously,  _"Yes KF?"_

_"What has two butts and kills people...?"_ The speedster paused for a moment,  _"An **ASS-ASS** -IN!"_

The team leader let out a long exhale and pinched the bridge of his nose as the rest of the team groaned in exasperation. 

* * *

**Red Hood, Spoiler, and Batgirl** (A/N: This scene is based off Archer, I do not own it!)

Red Hood had set some of the gunmen up in a nice neat line. Each of them were tied up tightly with their hands behind their back, courtesy of Spoiler, and each of them wore makeshift blindfolds solely for the sake of Hood wanting to be dramatic. 

" _ **RRAMMPPAGEE!!**_ " the antihero screamed, shocking them all awake with a gunshot. Once he had their attention, Red Hood paced up and down the line of goons with his gun held neatly behind his back.

"Seriously, you guys have got to be the unsexiest mobsters of all time," he said mockingly after a few moments of silence.

"You don't know who you're messing with!" One of the goons called out, catching his attention, "Do you know who our boss is?"

"Yes in fact I do!" Red Hood said stopping before the goon and pulling his gun out to admire it. "In fact I'm looking for him right now, and a hundred people surveyed... number one answer on the board." Hood pressed his gun into the goon's kneecap, "Where  _the hell_ is Ra's Al Ghul?"

"He's on the island of nunya..." the goon said pompously, " _nunya business."_

"Hm." Hood tilted his head in faux contemplation, "On the island of Nunya  _Business._ Survey says..." He stood and pointed to a nonexistent board, "WRONG ANSWER!" the team flinched as the antihero fired his gun into the gunman's kneecap, causing him to scream out in pain.

"Jesus! Ja-, I mean, _HOOD_!"

"SPOILER!" Jason retaliated without missing a beat, "Did I or did I  _not_ say this was a 'Rampage' at the beginning of this?"

"Still though-"

Spoiler's protests were interrupted by another gunman. "YOU SON OF A WHORE!"

"Save it for the money round, Buddy," Hood yelled back at him, moving to the next person in line. "Hundred people surveyed, number one answer _still_ on the board..." He pressed his gun into the guy's kneecap again, "Where  _THE HELL_ is Ra's Al Ghul?" When the man said nothing Hood made a buzzer noise with his mouth and pressed the gun harder into the man's knee, "Still need an answer."

The man spat on his mask, causing Hood to growl. "Hm," he grumbled, "Cock-flavored spit... Well, you never know what's gonna be on the board." He turned to the imaginary board. "Let me see 'cock-flavored spit'!" There was another loud gunshot followed by a scream, "Strike two! You don't wanna see what happens when I get to three!"

Red Hood moved down to the next person in line and the team members shifted their feet uncomfortably. "Okay kid-"

" _Emphasis on KID, Hood!_ " Spoiler interrupted again.

"Spoiler! You're in the  _ISOLATION_  booth!" He yelled, not even gracing her with a look. He turned his full attention back to the gunman who couldn't have been older than 18, "Looking for the one and only Ra's Al-"

"Boy," roared one of the other gunmen, "You say one word and I'll cut your yellow bellied -"

There was another gunshot and the man keeled over in pain. Hood shook his head, "God, I am so sick of being interrupted." Hood leaned over closer to the boy, "Look, you'll have to forgive my impatience, It's just I, and a lot of other people are trying to protect someone very... close to us and your boss is making that  _very_ difficult with his  _constant_ kidnapping attempts!"

The kid's eyes widened a bit under the blindfold, "K-kidnapping? Uh, N-No sir they didn't say _nuthin'_ about kidnapping! They just said sum stuff about robbin' rich people..."

Hood sighed, "Robbing rich people? No, no, no. Does it look like I give a damn about rich people? See I lov-, er.. care- um... look. No one's allowed to fuck with my family but me! SO if you'd like to keep your knee caps..."

"1846 West 57th Street!" The kid blurted out, flinching when Hood pulled the gun away from his kneecap. "Ra's took all his assassins and moved to 1846 West 57th Street, leaving us here! I don't know why he chose there, please believe me!" 

There was a thick blanket of tension in the air as the antihero considered what the kid had said. 

"Okay." he finally said resolutely.

"...Okay?" asked Spoiler, clearly confused. 

"Okay," Hood repeated calmly, nodding his head. "Let's go. We can radio 'Wing and BG on the way. Someone grab Blue Beetle." The team uneasily followed the eerily calm anti hero out of the warehouse as he practically bounced into the streets of late night Gotham.

* * *

**1846 West 57th Street**

The Bat Clan plus the Young Justice team all stood before the abandoned skyscraper. 

"You guys ready to kick some more  _ass_?" KF grinned, elbowing Nightwing who just rolled his eyes.

After a moment, Nightwing turned to the heros, "Okay. We're all here? Red Arrow? Superboy? You guys gave Damian to Selina Kyle?" The two 'bodyguards' nodded.

"Hey," Nightwing paused for a moment to look around, "Where's Blue Beetle?"

Spoiler looked pointedly at Hood, who at least had the decency to look guilty. "I... ahhhhh- did what I had to."

Nightwing raised an eyebrow, "Meaning?"

Red Hood looked down and scratched the back of his head, "He _may_ or  _may not_ be... currentlysleepingoffamassiveamountofbattranquilizers...." Nightwing opened his mouth as if to say something, but clearly changed his mind halfway through.

"Alright then." He clasped his hands together and turned back to the team. "We're splitting into three squads: Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha will consist of Hood, Orphan, Superboy, Red Arrow, Rocket, Aqualad and Wonder Girl with Red Hood in charge. You guys are the full frontal assault on Ra's forces. Your goal is to cause commotion and do as much damage as you can. Beta will consist of Me, Robin, Artemis M'gaan and Bumblebee, I will lead this squad. We will be infiltrating the building and taking out the men throughout the building as well as scouting. Gamma will consist of Batgirl, Spoiler, Arsenal, La'gaan, Impulse, Beast Boy and Wally this squad will be led by BG. You guys are the second wave of attack. You guys are going to take some of the heat off Alpha Squad."

"Once Beta figures out where Ra's is hiding, all three teams will convene at that location. Now, everyone remember to work together as a team. Have each other's backs." The teams all nodded in understanding. "Okay good. M'gaan, Link us up."

Miss Martian's eyes flickers green, _"Mind link established."_

_"Let's do this."_

:)

Hood started off Alpha with two gunshots through the front windows, getting the attention of most of the assassins in the vicinity.  _"Alpha is a go,"_ he said marching into the building with his team close behind. As expected most of the assassins began to congregate at the front to fight the powerhouses. 

Superboy grabbed one of the assassins and threw them at Wonder Girl who caught them in her lasso. Grinning, the amazonian began to spin around in the air, using the assassin in her lasso to bowl over the others nearby. She then released the assassin and sent him flying through the air only for Red Arrow to shoot him with an arrow that encased him in foam.

Red Arrow took a deep breath, savouring this moment, _"God, It feels good to be where the action is."_

_"As long as we're not dealing with his **princely-pants** again,"_ Superboy huffed as he punched an assassin into the wall.

The Bats all snickered at hearing Superboys nickname for their brother.

_"Definitely pulling that out next time,"_ Jason snickered as he shot an assassin in the leg. 

Nightwing led his squad to the second story window and quietly broke the glass. He peered down the massive set of stairs only to see Superboy throw another assassin out the window. Noticing his older brother,  Jason shot three bullets into the air. The signal to Beta that the coast is clear.

_"Beta is a go."_ Nightwing said from the second floor, looking down the stairs at the fight ensuing below. He held his arm up,  _"Beta spread out, and stay lowkey. Scout out everywhere you can and report what you find."_ The acrobat closed his fist, signaling his squad to go. _"Alpha what's your status?"_

Aqualad looked up at the new wave of assassins coming towards them and gripped his water bearers a little tighter, _"I believe that backup may be in order."_

_"Gamma, that's our cue!"_ Batgirl leapt into the fray as Arsenal and Beast Boy crashed through the back wall, allowing Beta to slink into the halls unseen.

With both Alpha and Gamma fighting the assassins, Nightwing's squad began picking off whoever was left. It was fairly easy, and after Beta cleared out the halls of stray assassins, they began the hunt for Ra's Al Ghul.

_"Search every room, vent, and closet. Ra's Al Ghul is **not** escaping," _

Surprisingly, it didn't take long to find the Demon's Head. Nightwing found him sitting alone, calmly on the 20th floor in what looked like the office of a CEO.  _"Guys I found Ra's. He's alone in the CEO's office."_

_"That's great 'Wing,"_ Hood grunted distractedly as he narrowly missed having his ear cut off.  _"Wait a moment, I can send backup shortly."_

_"Negative,"_ Nightwing carefully unscrewed the vent that led into the room,  _"I'm confronting him now, while the fight is still going on. Converge on my location when you are finished."_

_"Nightwing, don't!"_

Ignoring the team Nightwing dropped down from the vents, silently landing behind Ra's Al Ghul. 

Despite the acrobat's undetectable landing, the Demon's Head spun his chair around and stood up to meet the hero.

"Ah. Nightwing," He slowly walked around the desk dragging his hand across the surface. "Not quite the Wayne sibling I was hoping for." The assassin began to circle the acrobat.

"Well Ra's," Nightwing stood stone still looking straight ahead, "I'm the Wayne you're stuck with. Is that going to be a problem?"

"Not at all. I always liked you. The first 'son' of Bruce Wayne. The  _first_ boy wonder.  _Creator_ of the title 'Robin'. I'm sure my Grandson was quite honored to be next in line for the title, how unfortunate that the time has come for Damian to return home."

Nightwing's eyes narrowed. "Damian  _ **is**_ home," his voice came out as a hostile snarl.

Ra's came to a stop in front of the vigilante and sighed unsympathetically. He faced away from the acrobat and looked out the office window, "I am afraid you are mistaken. Damian belongs with his mother and I. His  _true_ family."

Nightwing stepped forward aggressively, " _ **We**_ are Damian's true family. We're more his family that you could ever be! He belongs with us."

"You are wrong!" Ra's roared, spinning around to face him. " ** _Foolish_** boy! Damian is  _blood_. He will return to take his rightful place as heir to the League of Shadows. It is his duty and his destiny. I will take him by force if necessary."

Nightwing whipped out his escrima sticks and got into a fighting position, "You'll have to go through me."

Ra's regained his composure and turned his back to the bat, "Fighting you is beneath me."

The acrobat growled and launched himself at Ra's Al Ghul, escrima sticks raised, but the Demon's Head easily blocked his attack with his sword and kicked the man backwards with a foot to the chest. Nightwing ground his teeth together and ran at the assassin again, putting his whole body behind his attack, but Ra's simply spun gracefully out of the way. Each blow he threw was blocked. Each strike he gave was dodged. 

Nightwing's next attack brought the two face to face, escrima to katana, locked in a standoff. Ra's sneered at the ex boy wonder, "You are wasting both of our time."

Breaking the standoff Nightwing ducked under Ra's arm and hit him in the back of the head with his escrima stick before gracefully flipping away. "Family is never a waste of time. You'd know that if you actually had one." 

Ra's looked down at the boy, face contorted in disdain. "You want a fight so bad? Fine." The assassin drew his sword, "I shall kill you where you stand, insolent child." The Demon's Head positioned himself before Nightwing and readied his katana for battle.

The two men charged at each other. Nightwing was first to strike. He aimed his escrima sticks at Ra's neck and side only to be met by Ra's blade. The two leapt away and began to circle each other like starving wolves. Ra's struck first this time, aiming his sword at Nightwings legs. The acrobat leapt up and pushed off the assassin's shoulders, flipping effortlessly through the air and landing in a crouch. Before Nightwing could even stand, the Demon's Head was sprinting back towards him, sword raised. He quickly brought his escrima stick up to block at the last second, wincing as a sharp pain shot through his arm.

Nightwing felt his weapon fall from his hand as the two weapons clashed. He hastily rolled out of the way and leapt to his feet. Ducking another one of Ra's attacks, Nightwing swiftly kicked one of the Demon Head's legs out from under him, causing him to fall. As he fell, Ra's lashed out, catching Nightwing in his side. The hero hissed as the katana cut cleanly through his suit, leaving a gash under his ribs.

The Demon's Head lunged at the the acrobat again, but the bat smoothly twisted out of the way at the last second and brought his foot down on the assassins back. Ra's rolled forward and turned to face his opponent, sword gripped tightly at his side. Ra's eyes narrowed as he addressed the bat before him. "I grow disinterested in this bothersome quarrel, young one."

There was a sharp buzz as Nightwing turned on the taser on his escrima sticks and cracked his neck. "Well then, it's a good thing I'm planning on finishing this,  _old man_."

Ra's twirled his sword around and sprinted towards the vigilante. Nightwing seemed to grin evilly as he waited for the man to grow ever closer. There was a whoosh of air as The Demon Head's katana sweeped right over the acrobat's head, narrowly missing his scalp. The hero quickly leapt up and kicked the katana from Ra's hand, watching it land with a clang a few feet away.

Ra's angrily grabbed the collar of Nightwing's suit and lifted the shorter man off his feet. "Enough of your insolence!" he snarled into the younger man's face. "I will no longer tolerate your disrespect!"

Nightwing scrunched his face up in disgust before promptly spitting his blood and spit onto the Demon Head's face. Ra's face contorted with anger, and Nightwing could basically see the steam shooting out his ears. WIthout another word, Nightwing was sent sailing across the CEO's office as Ra's threw him full force at the wall.

There was a loud thud as Nightwing's back slammed into the wall. Groaning, Nightwing stood back up to face Ra's as the assassin held a sword to his neck.

:) 

Red Hood scowled as his older brother went silent over the mind link. " _Don't forget to work as a team guys,_ " he blubbered to himself in a mocking voice, imitating his brother as he ran through the halls looking for the CEO's office. 

_"Team,"_ he commanded through the mind link.  _"Converge on Nightwing's location. 20th floor, CEO office. Soon as possible."_ Ignoring the rest of the responses, Red Hood skidded to a stop in front of the huge doors. He heard a thud and a groan as Nightwing was thrown against the wall.

"Goddamnit Grayson," Hood huffed quietly. The antihero slammed his shoulder into the doors, wincing as he felt the wood splinter beneath his shoulders. Hood stumbled into the room, gun raised. Nightwing sat on his knees with his arms up while the Demon's Head held a katana to his neck. "Step away from my brother, Ra's."

The assassin snapped his head to the left to look at the new arrival. "Ah," he sighed, but did not move an inch. "Jason Todd, 'The Red Hood', my least favorite Robin, but one of my most promising pupils."

Jason cocked his pistol cooly and aimed it back at Ra's chest, "I was never your 'pupil' Ra's, I was your puppet. Now _back away from my brother._ "

Ra's sniffed stuffily, "Is that what you're all calling each other now? _Brother_ _?_ How absolutely touching. I'm sure that will make it all the better when I slit his throat before you." The Demon's Head pressed his katana harder into Nightwing's neck, earning a grimace from the hero.

Red Hood yawned overdramatically. "You talk too much," The anti hero grumbled as he promptly shot the assassin in the knee. There was a loud growl as the bullet sank into the assassins knee.

Now standing on one leg, Ra's lowered his sword from Nightwing's throat. "PEASANT!" he snarled, "YOU-"

There was another gunshot as Red Hood shot the man in the thigh. 

"I WILL-"

_BANG!_  

_"FOOLISH BOY! YOU WILL-"_

_BANG!_

_"HOW DARE YOU-"_

**_BANG!_ **

_**"ENOUGH!"**_ Ra's bellowed, holding his lead-filled leg.

Red Hood paused and looked up at the Demon's Head, his interest peaked. 

Exhausted, Ra's held his hand up as a signal to stop, "The first boy wonder will be spared, you have my word. But, I require something in return."

Hood raised his eyebrows, but kept the pistol trained on the man in front of him. "What do you want?"

"Damian."

"No deal," the anti hero aimed his gun at Ra's heart.

" _WAIT WAIT WAIT!"_ Hood relaxed his grip on the gun. "You win. I'll leave, for now. But sooner or later, Damian will return to me. It is his destiny. You will not be able to prevent it."

Hood scowled at the assassin, "Bla bla bla, destiny. Just leave." There was a faint swish of his cloak and Ra's had disappeared out the window. Once he was gone, Red Hood holstered his gun and ran over to help Nightwing up. "C'mon Dickiebird, let's go."

Nightwing hissed in pain as Jason pulled him to his feet. His hand shot to his injured side. "Ahhhh... that's gonna hurt in the morning."

"That's what you get for running off by yourself," Hood grumbled saltily. 

"Let's just go," Nightwing mumbled sheepishly. "Don't forget to grab Blue Beetle on the way out."

* * *

**The Cave**

The team was once again gathered before the batfamily. Most of them were beaten, bruised, and exhausted, yet somehow all the Bats stood before them seemingly unaffected by the nights events. The only indication of injury was the white bandage wrapped around Nightwing's side where he had been cut by the katana.

"Team," They looked up to meet Batman's eye. "You guys did good work today. I know a full on attack from the League of Shadows was not expected, but you guys assessed the situation and took the best course of action. The League is proud." Batman turned on his heels and led most of the BatClan out of the cave like ducklings, leaving only Nightwing.

"Hear that guys?" Garfield leapt up excitedly and turned to his peers, "The League is proud of us!"

"Never thought I'd hear that coming from _Batman_..."  said Impulse, raising his eyebrows.

Nightwing smiled proudly at his team, "Praise from Batman is rare, but credit when credit is due. You guys exceeded all expectations today." He clasped his hands together, "Get some rest, no mission tomorrow."

_Nightwing B01_

 


End file.
